How do I write objects over a SocketChannel?

Question

Using the regular Socket class we can pass objects over sockets like this.
Socket s = new Socket("127.0.0.1", 80);
ObjectOutputStream out = new ObjectOutputStream(s.getOutputStream());
out.writeObject(new Object());
Now, I've looked through the documentation on the new Channel classes and have only seen ways to pass bytes over the channel, not an entire object. Is there an easy way to pass an entire object over a channel? Am I just missing an appropriate wrapper that adds this functionality?
Thanks,
Dave

Answer 1

This code will help you converting an Object to a byte[]:
//Object to send MUST implement Serializable
SerializedObject anObject = new SerializedObject();
//byte[] needed to send
byte[] aByteArray = null;
//the conversion
java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream aByteArrayOutputStream = new java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream();
java.io.ObjectOutputStream aObjectOutputStream = new java.io.ObjectOutputStream(aByteArrayOutputStream);
aObjectOutputStream.writeObject(anObject);
aObjectOutputStream.close();
aByteArray = aByteArrayOutputStream.toByteArray();
//When you receive the Object you should reverse the conversion
//byte[] reveived from InputStream
byte[] aReceivedByteArray;
//Expected Object
SerializedObject theExpectedObject = null;
//the conversion
java.io.ByteArrayInputStream aByteArrayInputStream = new java.io.ByteArrayInputStream(aReceivedByteArray);
java.io.ObjectInputStream aObjectInputStream = new java.io.ObjectInputStream(aByteArrayInputStream);
theExpectedObject = aObjectInputStream.readObject();
That's one way to do it.
You should watch out with Serializable object when sending it to another OS or JRE-version.